


Four Grey Wardens Walk Into a Forest and Meet a Dalish Elf

by danceswithhamsters01



Series: Reddit Prompts 2: Because the old one is quite full [18]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Confrontations, Darkspawn, Dragon Age: Origins Awakening Quest - The Righteous Path, Gen, Mages, POV First Person, POV Velanna, Recruitment, Velanna is Velanna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28251582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithhamsters01/pseuds/danceswithhamsters01
Summary: Based on a prompt from r/dragonage.Prompt 1: Velanna POV Before and after her confrontation with the Warden.Velanna's sister went missing after a skirmish with a band of armed humans. Velanna is determined to find Seranni. The Hero of Ferelden, the newly-made Warden-Commander, is investigating reports of caravans vanishing in The Wending Wood. The two parties meet.
Series: Reddit Prompts 2: Because the old one is quite full [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918846





	Four Grey Wardens Walk Into a Forest and Meet a Dalish Elf

I could sense it before I saw them: the ripples of magic danced at the edges of my sensing. Either there were several mages on their way toward me, or worse, _one very powerful one._ It didn’t feel anything like the magic my Keeper – _former Keeper_ , I reminded myself – used, so they were probably shemlen. I turned my gaze to the remains of the last group of shems to cross my path: nothing left but broken bodies and ruined weapons and armor. These intruding shemlen mages would meet the same fate if they were foolish. Nothing would get in my way, I swore to myself, I _would_ free Seranni from her captors!

But first, I needed to get to safety. There were darkspawn roaming these woods. I was content to let them also harass the shems. The humans and darkspawn deserved each other, as far as I was concerned. I murmured the incantation and let the roots embrace me and take me back to the encampment. Once upon a time, literally traveling through the earth was a disorienting experience. Ilshae had promised me that it would fade with practice. That promise, at least, was fulfilled. It was as natural to me as walking on my feet. The ancient stories said that magic used to be the birthright of every member of the People. Thanks to the ruin that the humans brought to my people long ago, magic had become a rare gift. I would shed no tears if the darkspawn found the intruding mages before I did.

The scuffle of booted feet alerted me that I wasn’t alone. I spun around and spotted him: a lone shem in leather gear digging through the discarded refuse of the doomed caravan. My eyes narrowed when I saw the ironbark pendant around his neck. _That_ was most certainly NOT his! I’d buried poor Lyris with it the other night. This… this _fiend_ was desecrating the graves of my kin! I channeled mana through my staff, sending a bolt his way that smacked him right in the buttocks, which sent him flying face-first into the dirt. His startled scream brought a smile to my lips.

“You’ve chosen a very unwise thing to do, shemlen.” I stalked closer while he frantically tried to get back onto his feet.

“I ain’t done nothing, I swear!”

“Then why are you wearing my dead kinsman’s pendant, grave robber?” I hissed, tapping his chest with the tip of my staff.

The parts of his uncovered skin that weren’t covered with dirt and grime went pale. I conjured a small flame into my free hand for show.

“This? I… I got it off of my friend, see? Yeah! He found it somewhere! I took it off my friend’s body! It’d be a damn shame to let the darkspawn have it,” he babbled.

“Why don’t I believe you?” I let the little ball of flame hovering in my palm grow larger. A puddle formed at his feet. Ugh, disgusting.

“Aaah!! Wait! No, no! Please! You can have it! You can have it! I honestly didn’t take it out of no grave! I swear! I swears by Andraste’s pyre, I does!” He pulled off the pendant and tossed it at my feet in a swift motion.

I wanted to do away with him, he was nothing but an overgrown scavenger. My people deserved better than to have their earthly remains disrespected in such a fashion! But a part of me hesitated as I observed the shemlen with the wet trousers. Seranni would’ve – no, Seranni _would_ , I corrected myself, because she wasn’t dead! – want me to release this pathetic creature. _For you, sister, but only because of that. You owe me._

I let the fireball shrink into nothingness. “Go. Get out of my sight. If I ever see you here again, your life is forfeit!”

The human wasted no time in running away from the encampment as fast as his feet could carry him. Letting him leave with his life and limbs intact left a bad taste in my mouth. The leader of the human village had thought nothing of setting portions of this woodland aflame just to keep my people from wandering too near his pathetic little village. Ilshae had betrayed us by bowing to their wishes and promising to take the clan to a more remote, out of the way, part of the land. We’d done nothing to them, and yet they’d accused of us banditry! Some of my kin were _dead_ because those stupid shems couldn’t be patient and let us pass through the land unharmed! My knuckles went white as I gripped my staff. Lyris’ younger sister had died in one of the fires the shems had set! I was supposed to stand back and do _nothing_ while our children were killed? What sort of Keeper worth the title would do that! NO! Justice needed to be done.

My cheek felt wet. I wiped it dry with a growl. Tears were useless, they wouldn’t help me find her. Seranni had vanished in the last skirmish with the humans. _I will find you, sister, I promise. I will make the ones who took you pay!_

I heard voices speaking Trade tongue off in the distance. More shems? I wove my spell and let the roots take me to an overlook so I could see who these new people were. As soon as I resurfaced, I felt the ripples in the magic around me again. It was stronger this time. That mage from before was close by if I had to guess. I saw the man with the pissed pants running away from the group of newcomers. A child of the stone and three shems were there. All of them were in varying sorts of armor embossed or etched with griffons. The woman and the man with the whiny voice both held staves that were plainly magical. It was obvious that the woman was the leader of their little band, what with the others calling her ‘commander.’

“Another scavenger here to prey on the misfortunes of others? No, you are too well armed,” I called out. “Here for me, then.” I slammed the butt of my staff into the ground. “You will not drive me from these forests! The shems could not do it, the darkspawn could not, and you will fare no better!”

The woman stepped forward. She was human, but she was the same unusual shade of pale as Ilshae. It did not endear her to me. “Darkspawn, you say? We would be particularly interested in them. My companions and I are Grey Wardens.”

Ah, they were hunting, then. I still remembered when the runner from Keeper Zathrian’s clan had come to us with a warning that the blight was ravaging the lands. Some months later, a different runner had found us again and demanded able-bodied hunters. Something about an army led by Grey Wardens for one last push into the shem’s capital city. Ilshae told the runner that if it was so vitally important for her clan’s hunters to help Grey Wardens, they could send one of their order to make the demand in person. No Wardens came, none of our hunters left our clan. I remembered the whispers and glared daggers behind my old Keeper’s back. I had buried myself in my studies to ignore the unsettled feeling in my stomach after that runner was removed from our camp. In the end, it hadn’t mattered. The Grey Wardens had killed their archdemon in the shemlen capital city.

“Ah. You are here to battle the darkspawn then? Fair enough,” I said. I had no quarrel with them. They were the bears that held the other predators of the forest – namely darkspawn – in check, so to speak.

“Should you encounter any merchant caravans, tell them to release my sister, or more of their men will die,” I added. Perhaps the idiotic shemlen would respect the words of a pack of Grey Wardens where Ilshae had failed. “Now go, deal with your darkspawn. And stay out of my way. Consider this a warning.” I pointed at not-Ilshae as the words left my mouth.

I let the roots embrace me once more and left the hunters to their work.

**

Not-Ilshae and her Grey Wardens returned, much to my annoyance. I spied her little party running up the path to my encampment. She skittered to a halt and looked me right in the eyes. Stupid human witch with her stupid silver eyes, making me feel like she could see through me.

“Why are you still here?” I called out. “I told you to stay away from me! I warned you! This place is not for you!”

The Warden spoke up. “The humans did not kidnap your sister. I spoke with a survivor before he died of his wounds.”

Fire danced in my veins, bright and hot, begging for me to call it forth and fling it at this filthy stinking shemlen liar and her lapdogs. _No._ Fire had done enough harm to this place. This called for something else.

“I know a human crime when I see it. I have experienced more than enough of them. _You will pay for repeating their lies!_ ” I sent out a silent call, making the magic in the air ripple. A trio of sylvans awoke and turned their ire upon the Wardens. Not even a moment later, I heard the answering howl of a wolf pack. Good, good. They’d heeded my call. I wove my spell and dove into the earth, leaving the scene. If the Creators willed it, there would be carrion for the scavengers to feed on.

My heart leaped into my throat as soon as I resurfaced in my camp. The cold sank its teeth into my skin! It was savage, unrelenting, and utterly unnatural. I could hear the magically summoned winds howling and spied flurries of snow in the distance… right where the sylvans were attacking. The Warden witch was clearly a powerful mage. Something shattered. One of the poor creatures I’d called upon, no doubt. I heard a faint _“Go suck on a fireball!”_ off in the distance a moment before a muffled explosion rattled the area. No, that was a man’s voice.

I gave myself a shake and pulled the ironwood pendant out of the pouch at my hip. I coaxed one of the stones covering Lyris’ grave aside with a touch of magic. I carefully placed the pendant into her hands and closed them. Creators, she still looked like she was only asleep. I moved the stone back over her grave and sank to my knees. That Warden had to be lying to me. She had to be lying! Seranni… if the humans didn’t have her, then she could be… NO! _NO!_ She was NOT dead! There was no way she could be dead!

I’d lost track of time, only to be brought back into the present when I heard the jingling of metallic armor and the clattering of booted feet. An aura of cold nipped at me and grew stronger as she approached. It was all I could do to not let my teeth clatter as I shivered. I gathered what courage I could and spun around… and had to look down to look the shemlen mage in the face. Her silver eyes once again gave me that irritating feeling of being seen through.

“You… you will never take me alive,” I all but spat.

“I’m not going to kill you, even if you have severely tried my patience. My Wardens and I had no quarrel with you,” she said in an all-too-irritatingly calm voice.

“I will not go with you to some shemlen magistrate. I won’t bow to their rules.”

“Er, not to tell you what to do or anything, but maybe you could possibly… cancel that cold aura of yours, Commander?” the male shemlen mage said from behind his commander.

Not-Ilshae folded her arms and gave him a withering look.

“I’m just saying. The lady might be more willing to talk if you’re not trying to freeze her to death, is all,” the man added. “I am NOT carting the dwarf around if you freeze him, by the way. Just so you know.”

The witch sighed and snapped her fingers. Warmth started to return to my limbs. “Happy now?” she asked her subordinate. She turned those eyes of hers back to me. “I just wanted to talk, not wrestle with angry spirits trapped in trees.”

A bitter laugh left my throat. “Talk.”

“The darkspawn were playing the humans against the elves,” she said.

Of all the…! Did she think I was some fool who’d believe such a fabrication?! “What?! The darkspawn are mindless. It is not possible.”

She tapped one of the shemlen-made blades on the ground with the toe of her boot. “It’s very unlikely that the humans are responsible. The darkspawn killed them. We found the bodies and spoke with a survivor before he died of his wounds.”

I cared nothing for those dead humans. “They never should have come here in the first place. If they had just left us alone, all of this never would have happened!” I stood up and looked the Warden witch in the eye. “If it wasn’t the humans who killed my people and took Seranni, are you saying the darkspawn did it?”

The Warden brushed back a stray lock of her black hair with one hand and reached into her pocket with the other. She held out a locket to me in the palm of her hand. “I found this trinket on a darkspawn. The artwork on it made me think that it is of dalish make.”

I froze in place, eyes unable to look away from the locket in her hand. I drew closer and reached to take it from her. She offered no resistance. “That’s… that is Seranni’s. She would never willingly part with that; our mother gave it to her before she died.” _Sister,_ my heart thudded in my ears as I stood with my eyes closed for a few moments. “Why would the darkspawn do this?”

I saw a flash of sadness mixed with something else in the Warden’s eye before she answered me. “Darkspawn do more than just kill people. They… they kidnap women, drag them into their lairs… and use foul magics to mutate them. They make women into their broodmothers.” The two human men behind her exchanged horrified looks. Perhaps that particular tidbit of information was new to them? The child of the stone with blood-red hair said nothing, but there was a steely glint in his eye.

Horror squeezed my heart, followed quickly by the familiar heat of rage. “Are you saying that Seranni will… become one of _them?_ I will not allow that!”

“Let us help. She was taken recently, was she not? There’s time to find her, to stop them from doing that to her,” the dark-haired woman said.

“You… you want to help find Seranni? Why?” I asked.

“No one deserves the fate they enforce on the women they capture. No one deserves to suffer at the hands of Darkspawn. We are Grey Wardens, protecting people from them is one of our duties,” she answered.

This feeling was… uncomfortable. Had I misread their intentions all along? Ugh! Why must people be so confusing?! “Thank you. Perhaps I… misjudged you. My name is Velanna, if you care for such things. Do you know where the darkspawn might dwell?”

“Underground. There must be a tunnel with a connection to the Deep Roads in the vicinity,” she said.

Tunnels? Ah! “There is an abandoned mine some ways to the north of here; the tunnels run far into the earth. We will likely find the darkspawn there,” I said. I felt thankful that I remembered Lyris’ scouting report made several days ago.

“We?” the dark-haired shemlen man asked. He had a quiver at his hip and a bow on his back. “She’s coming with us, Commander?”

“She’s a mage, and as you’ve seen, she’s more than capable of handling herself in a fight. I won’t refuse such a person if they want to accompany us, especially when it’s a member of her family we’re searching for,” she said. “Any objections? No? Good. Off we go now, north.” She began walking down the path, not waiting for anyone’s objections.

“Are we seriously going to-- with _her?_ ” the male mage asked, pointing an arm in my general direction.

“You heard the Commander. Move it,” the dwarf said before he turned to follow their leader.

“You’ve known her longer than I have. Is Sevarra always this… mad, Anders?” the archer asked his mage companion.

‘Anders’ offered a shrug and sighed. The two men hurried down the path to catch up with the other two. I ran to catch up with the group. _Hang on, Seranni,_ I thought, _we’re coming._


End file.
